It helped that it's not very hard for players, who take on the role of the pilot, to nail a successful landing. After an initial design that had test players crashing 25 times before avoiding disaster, the AddictingGames staff lessened the difficulty level to keep the focus on the uplifting experience, not the challenge.
"We want these to be some of the easiest games we make," explains Breton.
Beyond their ease, most news games share other traits: They're lighthearted, short and, whenever possible, include real world photos.
Where's the Naughty Governor, for example, is based entirely on pictures. That's why after Connally and Williams have given their go-ahead for the game's concept and the five politicians who will be included, Breton and free-lance programmer Chris Basmajian are hunched over a laptop computer scouring the Internet for a copyright-free photo of a John Edwards campaign rally.
Once they find it, Connally joins the duo for a crucial detail: positioning a photo of the former presidential candidate's ex-mistress Rielle Hunter.
"I just need a place to drop her in and shrink her down," says Basmajian as he drags Hunter's disembodied head over the crowd, eventually settling on a group off to the side where there's just enough room to insert a partially cropped face.
Once the team decided the concept of the game would be searching for hidden items, it took Basmajian only four hours to complete the basic programming. The remaining 31 that he worked consisted primarily of finding and altering photos.
During last week's brainstorming meeting, the group seemed to have only a single regret.
"Is there a Gov. Sarah Palin level?" Breton asked while considering options.
"What'd she do?" asked Connally.
"I don't know," replied Breton, musing about the online popularity of the former vice presidential candidate. "It'd just be fun to put her in there."
On Friday, the news obliged AddictingGames when Palin unexpectedly resigned, sparking a flurry of media speculation about her motivation and political future.
Which was good news for President Clinton. Sarah Palin is now the last level of Where's the Naughty Governor?
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ben.fritz@latimes.com
